You have an extended family and every year you all get together to go on a family trip for a week. Your uncle is in charge of the plans this year and you would like to suggest a place you have visited lately. Write a letter to your uncle. In your letter: - suggest the place you have visited - describe your experience about this place - mention what you could do there
Sample Response
Dear Wallner, Hope you and aunt Alecia are doing great. It was a piece of delightful news that we will soon have a family trip together and you are in charge to finalise the arrangements. I am so excited about the upcoming holiday and looking forward to spending some great time with all of you. I have lately been to Vienna, the capital city of Austria, and had a great experience. I think this would be a wonderful destination for us to enjoy our holiday together. Viena is regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, grand buildings, monuments and parks. Plenty of spectacular culture and interesting places are within easy reach in this city, and I wish to be there again and witness a city revered by all. We can enjoy the music film festival on City Hall Square, stroll and taste food in magical surroundings, visit the Schönbrunn Zoo, the oldest zoo in the world, take a tour to the Ringstrasse by tram, do some shopping and be in a city which is considered one of the best livable cities in the world. I had been there only for a couple of days and my experience was fabulous. I am quite positive all of us will enjoy our time in this city during our trip. I would like to know your thoughts about it. Take care and stay fine. See you soon. Yours truly, Powell
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Capitalise family title Original: aunt Suggested revision: Aunt Why it matters: A family title used with a name is capitalised.
- 2. Use natural news phrase Original: a piece of delightful news Suggested revision: great news Why it matters: "A piece of delightful news" is unnecessarily awkward in this informal letter.
- 3. Fix preposition Original: in charge to finalise Suggested revision: in charge of finalising Why it matters: The construction is "in charge of" followed by a gerund.
- 4. Restore parallel verb Original: and looking forward Suggested revision: and am looking forward Why it matters: The coordinated verb phrase needs the auxiliary "am."
- 5. Use a great time Original: some Suggested revision: a Why it matters: "Time" takes the article "a" in this expression.
- 6. Use recently visited Original: have lately been to Vienna Suggested revision: recently visited Vienna Why it matters: This is the more natural way to describe a recent trip.
- 7. Correct city spelling Original: Viena Suggested revision: Vienna Why it matters: The city name is misspelled.
- 8. Name attractions clearly Original: spectacular culture Suggested revision: cultural attractions Why it matters: Culture itself is not countable as a set of sights; "cultural attractions" fits the context.
- 9. Use accessible Original: within easy reach in this city Suggested revision: easily accessible in the city Why it matters: This phrase expresses the intended convenience more naturally.
- 10. Capitalise event name Original: music film festival Suggested revision: Music Film Festival Why it matters: A named festival should be capitalised.
- 11. Use natural activities Original: stroll and taste food Suggested revision: stroll around and sample food Why it matters: These verb combinations describe the proposed activities naturally.
- 12. Fix tour phrase Original: take a tour to the Ringstrasse by tram Suggested revision: take a tram tour of the Ringstrasse Why it matters: A tour is "of" a place, and the transport modifier belongs before "tour."
Suggested Rewrites
- aunt Aunt
- a piece of delightful news great news
- in charge to finalise in charge of finalising
- and looking forward and am looking forward
- some a
- have lately been to Vienna recently visited Vienna
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter warmly recommends Vienna, describes the writer's positive visit, and offers a rich, relevant range of activities for the family, so the purpose and all three prompts are fully addressed. Its main weakness is structural and stylistic: the content is presented as one long block with a few awkward collocations; prioritise clear paragraphing and more natural phrasing while retaining the friendly tone.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The destination, personal experience, and possible family activities are all clearly and substantially developed in an appropriate friendly tone.
Make the personal experience slightly more specific by describing one memorable moment from the recent visit rather than relying mainly on general praise.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses logically from the suggestion to attractions and a closing invitation, but the single paragraph and long activity list reduce readability.
Divide the response into short paragraphs for the suggestion, personal experience, proposed activities, and closing.
Lexical Resource
A broad range of descriptive and travel vocabulary conveys enthusiasm effectively, despite a few spelling and collocational slips.
Correct Vienna consistently and prefer natural phrases such as wonderful news, responsible for finalising, and one of the world's most liveable cities.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex structures are generally well controlled and meaning is consistently clear, with occasional errors in complementation, tense, and sentence balance.
Use responsible for finalising rather than in charge to finalise and split the very long activities sentence into two controlled sentences.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You have an extended family and every year you all get together to go on a family trip for a week. Your uncle is in charge of the plans this year and you would like to suggest a place you have visited lately. Write a letter to your uncle. In your letter:
- suggest the place you have visited
- describe your experience about this place
- mention what you could do there
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.